Wadding containers with sheet material



Dec. 4, 1962 E. E. LAKSO 3,066,460

WADDING CONTAINERS WITH SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 30, 1960 INVENTOR EINO E. LAKSO ATTORNEY United States Patent ()fiice lifibbfiiid Patented en. 4, 1962 3,366,460 WADDING fiflNTAlNERS WTTH SEEET MATERIAL Eino E. Lakso, Fitchburg, Mass, assignor to The Lakso Company, Inc, Fitchhurg, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed June 3% i960, Ser. No. 39,963 3 Claims. (Cl. 5335) This invention relates to the wadding of containers with sheet material. Particularly but not limited to the pharmaceutical industry, small objects in containers such as tablets in bottles are customarily Wadded with cotton or the like in order to prevent shifting of the contents during storage, transit, and use, to prevent breakage of the objects as for instance, as a common example, aspirin tablets.

It has been determined, however, that crumpled or crimped sheet material such as paper of various kinds, foil, etc. may be utilized as wadding in place of the usual cotton wadding at a much lower cost for the material itself, for easier and cheaper storage, the sheet material taking up about a one to fourteen ratio insofar as space is concerned; the sheet material is cleaner and can be utilized in rolls or as cut sheets in stacks so that the wadding machine used can operate for a complete shift without any attention or interruption thereto; different kinds of sheets can be utilized, such as medicated, treated with moisture-absorbing or rust-preventing materials, etc., and the sheet material is a great deal easier and quicker to handle and is not apt to break in the wadding process as is the case with long strands of cotton wadding which have to be severed in one way or another and which cause a good deal of down time on the filling line when the wadding breaks as it frequently does.

On the other hand, up to the present invention, cotton Wadding has been relatively expeditiously handled in machines such as those exemplified in United States Patents Nos. 2,304,932; 2,171,572; 2,269,722; 2,895,269 and 2,895,273. No machines have been developed for the expeditious handling of sheet material which will properly wad the articles in the containers to an emcient degree, and it is the general purpose of the present invention to provide a means and method for folding the sheet material, holding it while folded, and inserting the same into the necks of the containers which are to be wadded.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view illustrating a sheet of material about to be folded;

FIG. 2 illustrates the folding of the sheet material;

FIG. 3 illustrates the folded sheet material being inserted into the neck of a bottle;

FIG. 4 illustrates the sheet material completely inserted therein; and

FIG. 5 is a bottom view on a reduced scale, looking in the direction of arrow 5 in FIG. 1.

In carrying out the present invention, it is desired to be emphasized that any suitable sheet material of some degree of stiffness or resiliency may be used for the present invention. This sheet material may be handled or processed in the form of a continuous roll, or it may be pre-cut and stacked. If it is handled in the form of a roll, some cut off means should be provided to provide the blanks such as for instance at in FIG. 1. This blank is preferably square in shape and is cut from the roll by some well known means whereupon it is positioned as shown in FIG. 1 centered upon a hollow tube or the like 12. In this position, a mandrel 14 is moved relatively in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, stuffing the sheet it into the tube 12 as illustrated in PEG. 2. This is the equivalent of holding the sheet of material in one hand and holding a finger of the other hand centrally thereover and squeezing the paper around the finger to form a kind of unevenly folded or crimped tubular parachute-like article which is held in the tube 112 if the tube is used, or in the hands of the operator if the tube is not used.

When this has been done and with the folded sheet material 10 still in tube 12, the mandrel M or another tool suitable to the purpose may be retracted from the folded sheet material in tube 12 and reversed at the opposite end of the tube as shown in FIG. 3 to impinge upon the folded paper It) and expel the same into the neck at 16 of a bottle 18.

The effect of this is that by folding the paper with the center thereof as a reference, this center being indicated at 20 in FIGS. 2 and 3, the folded paper presents in a downward direction as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a series of corners 22, these being the corners of the square blank 10 and the rumpled edges of the sheet adjacent the corners. As the crimped or folded sheet proceeds downwardly as shown in FIG. 3, these corners enter into the interstices between the various articles 24 in the container 18 and continued pressure downwardly of mandrel 14 crumples the paper it even more until it is completely seated within the neck of the bottle as shown in FIG. 4.

It is desired to be emphasized that the folded corners above referred to impinge upon and insinuate themselves into and between the loose articles 24 in the container, due to the fact that the material is not dead limp, nor too still. The articles may, for instance, he in the form of well known tablets, capsules, etc, and the same are therefore then relatively firmly held within the container fully as well or better than by the cotton wadding utilized in the prior art.

In the event that it is found desirable, the original blank 10 may be cut out originally in the form of a star to provide more than four extending points 22. This can be done as the sheet of material is unwound from the roll and cut off, or the sheets may be cut out and stacked as will be clear to those skilled in the art.

The mandrel 14 may be provided with a rounded nose 26 in order to facilitate the folding action as shown in FIG. 2. and the sheet material utilized may be of any kind which may be found to be convenient such as foil, Waxed paper, woven and non-woven fabrics, paper of any kind which may be smooth or rough, calendered or corrugated, etc. It is emphasized that any kind of such sheet material may be utilized for the purpose, depending in part upon the nature of the articles to be held in position thereby, the force with which they are to be held, and the chemical conditions under which they exist.

The present invention provides a quick and easy way of applying for instance paper or other sheet material Wadding in the way described but it is also pointed out that the method can be carried out without the use of the tube 12 or the mandrel 14 since as described, the sheet of material it} may be held in one hand while a finger of the other hand is placed approximately in the center of such sheet and then the paper may be folded around and down onto the finger, whereupon the finger can then be removed and the folded paper inserted by hand into the neck of the bottle without the use of any tools at all. The sheet used can he of other shapes, as indicated above, rectangular, irregular, etc., varying the points that first contact the articles in the container, according to circumstan es encountered in particular cases.

Sheet material is easily made as sanitary as required and it may have embodied therein various chemicals, metals, etc. as may be found suitable to any kind of situation, whereas on the other hand the cotton Wadding utilized is ordinarily very dirty when received and must be cleaned and sterilized before use; it is difficult to handle, and it requires a very bulky storage and often breaks during the wadding, when it is process measured, cut, etc.

It is believed that it will be seen that the objects of the invention have been carried out and that the sheet material wedding of the present case is inexpensive, easy to use, sanitary, and avoids break-down time on the machines utilizing the same as compared to prior art cotton wedding methods.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, 1 do not Wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but What I claim is:

1. The method of Wedding necked containers With sheet material comprising providing a sheet of the material having the characteristics of paper, Wrapping the same on a mandrel to form an open end tube, with the edges of the sheet in substantial proximity at the open end of the tube, removing the mandrel, and then inserting the folded tube into the container, edges first.

2. A method of applying sheet material wadding to necked containers for loose articles comprising providing a sheet of material having corners, said material having the characteristics of paper, folding the sheet about a center portion so that the corners of the sheet come into general proximity with each other, and then inserting the now-folded sheet material into the neck of the container with the corners of the folded sheet material extending first through the neck of the bottle and impinging upon the contents thereof.

3. A method of applying sheet material wadding to necked containers for loose articles comprising providing a sheet of material having corners, said material having the characteristics of paper, folding the sheet so that the corners of the sheet come into general proximity with each other, and then inserting the now-folded sheet material into the neck of the container with the corners of the folded sheet material extending first through the neck of the bottle and impinging upon the contents thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,683,843 Nelson Sept. 11, 1928 2,649,958 Rausch a Aug. 25, 1953 2,685,827 Mason Aug. 10, 1954 2,771,184 Ryno et al. Nov. 20, 1956 2,805,531 Dimond Sept. 10, 1957 2,817,934 Dimond Dec. 31, 1957 2,895,275 Hollis July 21, 1959 2,905,315 D011 Sept. 22, 1959- FOREZGN PATENTS 832,752 Great Britain Apr. 13, 1960 948,009 France Jan. 24, 1949 m-umn 

